Supporting Children’s Right to Food and Education Through School Meals

Finland partners with UN agencies and various initiatives to ensure the right to adequate food, health and education, especially in fragile and conflict-affected settings. Finland is a founder and co-chair of the School Meals Coalition along with France and Brazil. The coalition is one of the most successful multilateral initiatives to ensure that every child has access to a daily, nutritious meal in school by 2030.

Finland has the world’s longest-running free-of-charge school meal programme, established nationwide in the 1940s. Initially introduced to address post-war poverty and malnutrition, school meals became a cornerstone of equal access to education and improved learning outcomes.

Building on this experience, Finland promotes school meals as a strategic investment in health, education, and social protection. School meals programmes are the largest social safety net in the world, alleviating childhood hunger, ensuring equal access to nutrition, and reaching the most vulnerable children. They benefit communities by promoting local food systems and equality, and enable parents, especially mothers, to work outside of home. In fragile and conflict-affected settings, school meals can also help restore normalcy after conflict and can foster stability, social cohesion, and recovery.

Through (co-chairing) the School Meals Coalition (with France and Brazil), Finland is committed to ensuring access to nutritious, sustainable, and inclusive school meals by 2030. Finland also provides long-term support to the World Food Programme in fragile contexts and shares its pioneering experience with partners.